New Book Project

 

This week I received the good news that I now have a publisher for my new book-in-progross on aging and geroscience.  

This is a research topic I have been working on for nearly 20 years, and I am I refining and developing these ideas into a comprehensive book that integrates insights from the intellectual history of public health, the biology of aging, communication science and bioethics/philosophy.  It has been a real labour of love.

This past week I also received a new poster I had purchased for my bedroom, the one above depicting Sisyphus facing the endless task of pushing the rock up a steep hill.  This imagery will come in handy as I undertake a year of heavy "intellectual lifting" to complete the writing of this book that has consumed most of my research for the past decade.

Cheers, 

Colin    

News Item on Play and Risk

 

Nature news has this interesting item on play and risk, I guess better late than never.  A sample:

Over the past two decades, research has emerged showing that opportunities for risky play are crucial for healthy physical, mental and emotional development. Children need these opportunities to develop spatial awareness, coordination, tolerance of uncertainty and confidence.

Despite this, in many nations risky play is now more restricted than ever, thanks to misconceptions about risk and a general undervaluing of its benefits.

 ....The goal of promoting risky play isn’t to turn cautious children into thrill-seekers, it’s simply to allow them to take incremental risks at whatever pace they choose, say proponents. “What risky play looks like for one child will be totally different to what it looks like for another,” says child psychologist Helen Dodd at the University of Exeter, UK. 

Cheers, 

Colin